Marin County, CA Flavor Ban

Marin County, another municipality on the long list recently published by Not Blowing Smoke, has decided to move forward with the introduction of a flavor ban. The draft ordinance cites that;

“Tobacco companies have used flavorings such as mint and wintergreen in smokeless tobacco products as part of a “graduation strategy” to encourage new users to start with tobacco products with lower levels of nicotine and progress to products with higher levels of nicotine. It is therefore unsurprising that young people are much more likely to use menthol-, candy- and fruit-flavored tobacco products than adults, including not just cigarettes but also cigars, cigarillos, and hookah tobacco.”

This ordinance will be introduced in the regular County Board of Supervisors meeting on September 11th at 9:30am and we strongly encourage business stakeholders and vapers to attend this hearing and express their concerns about the unintended consequences of banning flavored vapor products and limiting consumer choice.

If the county decides to move ahead with this bad policy, a merit hearing and adoption likely will take place in the hearing that will be held on September 18th at 9:00am. The intention of the ordinance is to make it effective 30 days after adoption while enforcement would commence on January 1st, 2019.

3501 Civic Center Drive Room 330 San Rafael, CA 94901

Vapers and vapor retailers in Marin County can contact Not Blowing Smoke for additional help and preparation.

Please contact the supervisors to express your concerns if you cannot make it to the hearing:

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Stefan switched from smoking to vaping in 2012 and has been a vocal and active supporter and advocate for vapor products and tobacco harm reduction and is frequently seen testifying in front of state and local legislators and policy makers. Outside of Stefan’s legislative and PR efforts, including the creation of the #notblowingsmoke website and movement, he is mostly known for working out of the world’s most famous home office. Stefan has been featured in many articles and interviews on the subject of vapor products, electronic cigarettes, and harm reduction, including professor Stanton Glantz’ Tobacco Control blog at the University of California, San Francisco.

One Comment

I have smoked for over 10 years and tried everything under the sun to quit. Using vaping products has been the only method for harm reduction. I do intend to quit vaping but without the flavors that are included in most juices I would have given up on vaping and continue to smoke today. Although I do not live in Marin county (contra costa) i do fear the loss of flavors would push people back to smoking cigarettes.